Stahnsdorf South-Western Cemetery Explained

Südwestkirchhof Stahnsdorf
Established:1909
Country:Germany
Location:Stahnsdorf
Coordinates:52.3889°N 13.1806°W
Type:Protestant cemetery
Owner:Evangelical Church in Berlin, Brandenburg and Silesian Upper Lusatia
Size:206 ha
Interments:+120,000
Website:The official website
Findagraveid:639253

The Stahnsdorf South-Western Cemetery (German: Südwestfriedhof Stahnsdorf der Berliner Synode) is a Protestant rural cemetery in Germany. Established in 1909, the cemetery is located in the municipality of Stahnsdorf in Potsdam-Mittelmark district, Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. With a land area of approximately 206 ha, it is the largest church-owned Christian cemetery in Germany, as well as being the tenth largest cemetery in the world and Germany's second largest cemetery after Hamburg's Ohlsdorf Cemetery.[1] The cemetery is operated by the administration of the Berlin City Protestant Synod Association.[2] Due to its status as one of the most important landscape parks in the Berlin metropolitan area, along with the large amount of historically valuable tombs and other buildings which include the landmark wooden chapel, the cemetery was designated as a place of special importance and a protected area by the state of Brandenburg in 1982.

History and description

In the second half of the 19th century, it became clear that due to industrialization, Berlin's population growth would eventually increase to such an extent that the existing Protestant parish burial grounds would prove to be insufficient to cope with the increasing mortality rates. It was decided by Berlin City Synodal Association, comprising parishes of the Protestant Church of the older provinces of Prussia in Berlin and the surrounding area, that a large cemetery on the outskirts should have to be established and finally acquired a large piece of land outside the city limits which included an area of around 156 hectares in size, partly covered with pine trees in a wooded area, in the southwest of Berlin, between the Parforceheide forests in the north and west, the new Potsdamer Landstrasse in the south and the municipality of Stahnsdorf in the east. The cemetery was consecrated on March 28, 1909, and the first burial took place on April 8; a retired teacher named Elisabeth Wenzlewski. The landmark wooden cemetery chapel, modeled on Norwegian stave churches, was built between 1908 and 1911 according to plans by the church architect Gustav Werner. The wooden interior houses Art Nouveau stained glass windows and a pipe organ built by Wilhelm Sauer. The chapel is still used for funerals and church services and it occasionally hosts musical events.[3] In 1928, a railway built between Wannsee and Stahnsdorf, and a special train station was inaugurated on the forecourt of the cemetery for the purpose of transporting the coffins, along with the mourners, families of the deceased and visitors. The so-called cemetery railway was colloquially referred to as the widow railway. Around 33,000 graves were exhumed from the six Schöneberg parish cemeteries and transferred along with tombstones to Stahnsdorf South-Western Cemetery.[4] The newly created cemetery was one of the first examples of the popular rural cemetery movement in Germany, along with the Ohlsdorf Cemetery of Hamburg which is non-denominational and not affiliated with any church. In the first 25 years of its operation, the Südwestfriedhof received more than 35,000 interments which is almost a third of the approximately 120,000 burials recorded to date. Although the burial area was primarily intended for the burial of the deceased of those professing the Protestant faith, with each one of the twenty-one Protestant parishes having their own plots, a separate nonsectarian part was set up by the municipal authorities for the burial of other religious communities and non-religious citizens. In addition to the non-denominational municipal blocks within the cemetery, the non-sectarian Friedenauer Waldfriedhof (Forest-cemetery of Friedenau) which has been called Wilmersdorfer Waldfriedhof Güterfelde since 1935, was opened in 1913 and then another non-denominational cemetery to the north was inaugurated in 1921 to accommodate non-sectarian burials in a secular setting. Due to the construction of Berlin Wall in 1961, the railway ceased to operate and the cemetery lost its main function as a central cemetery to serve Berlin metropolitan region, after it had been detached from its primary service area. To maintain and preserve the large cemetery under the difficult environment of a politically and geographically divided Berlin in the post-war period has always been a priority of the Evangelical Church in Berlin, Brandenburg and Silesian Upper Lusatia. Since 1991, the Protestant Church invested more than 6 million Euros for the conservation of cemetery site and associated facilities, along with the rehabilitation of the chapel, funerary monuments and mausoleums.[5]

List of parish burial blocks located on Stahnsdorf South-Western Cemetery

The burial grounds of the individual Protestant parishes are called blocks. In addition to the blocks of the parishes, there are also special blocks that were created later for war graves and reburials (see below). Many of the parishes listed here have now merged with neighboring parishes under new names.[6]

World War graves

After the First World War, the British and Italian governments acquired areas within the South-Western Cemetery in order to set up honorary cemeteries for their military personnel who perished during the First World War. The two military cemeteries, each approximately one hectare in size, have been preserved to this day. The British Commonwealth South-Western Cemetery contains a total of 1,177 burials and the Italian one around 1,650 interments. A memorial to the German soldiers who died in the First World War was erected in the South-Western Cemetery. British military graves are maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, which registered the cemetery as Berlin South-Western Cemetery.[7] Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom paid a visit to South-Western Cemetery on November 3, 2004 to commemorate those who died in the First World War at the British military cemetery on the occasion of her state visit to Germany.[8]

Flora and fauna

Apart from its architectural and historic importance, the cemetery ground serves as a home to many animal species, which includes over 40 species of birds, 200 species of butterflies and over 300 species of insects, with some of those endangered that are threatened by extinction. Four different bat species live in the crypts and mausoleums. There are also over 200,000 trees on the site, along with different species of shrubs, bushes and flowers.[9]

In popular culture

The gothic setting of the burial ground and grave monuments in the attractive forest-like landscape has made the Stahnsdorf South-Western Cemetery a backdrop for film shoots on various occasions, particularly the area around the chapel and the mausoleum of the Caspary family.

Notable burials, including re-burials from Berlin parish burial grounds

External links

Notes and References

  1. Der zehntgrößte Friedhof der Welt (The tenth largest cemetery in the world) in Berliner Zeitung. 2./3. September 2017, S. 12.
  2. Web site: The website of Stahnsdorf South-Western Cemetery in English . 2023-09-20.
  3. Web site: Südwestkirchhof Stahnsdorf: 100th Anniversary -'Think about it in silence', Tagesspiegel, 28.03.2009. 2023-09-20.
  4. Web site: 'The Stahnsdorf Southwestern Cemetery is the second-largest resting place in Germany', Berliner Zeitung, on December 21, 2009. 2023-09-20.
  5. Web site: Rehabilitation of Stahnsdorf South-Western Cemetery by EKD. 2023-09-23.
  6. Web site: Map showing the blocks of Stahnsdorf South-Western Cemetery. 2023-09-20.
  7. https://www.cwgc.org/visit-us/find-cemeteries-memorials/cemetery-details/90900/berlin-south-western-cemetery/
  8. Web site: Queen Elizabeth's visit to Stahnsdorf South-Western Cemetery . 2023-09-23.
  9. Web site: Wildlife in South-Western Cemetery . 2023-09-21.
  10. Web site: Manifesto (2015). 2023-09-28.

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